Leaning on the Father / Everyday Stewardship

Several years ago there was a popular Contemporary Christian song by Steven Curtis Chapman that contained the lyric, “God is God, and I am not.” These words did not originate with Chapman, but it surely was a resounding message for a culture that too often upholds an ideal of success and accumulation of riches on one’s own terms. Too often we buy into the lie that we are the gods of our own universe. We have the control and we decide what happens next in our lives.

However, the belief that we can depend on ourselves for everything in life is simply folly. In fact, Jesus asks us to come to Him like children, not only dependent on God, but also cognizant of the fact that we never exist in the world alone. To be like a child is not to be immature, but rather it is our maturity of faith that allows us to see our dependence on a loving Father.

Good stewards need to always remember that God is God and we are not. Stewardship is an acceptance that all we have and all we are is because of God. When we accept that, we no longer hold on to possessions and status too tightly. We learn to rest in Him when we are troubled and call on Him when we are in need. As a community of children who know who they really are, we cannot only renew our Church, we can make the world a better place. We just need to sing Chapman’s lyric and God will answer with a Bill Wither’s lyric, “Lean On Me.”